Improvement in transporting and delivering dredged material



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

1. a w a m .u m 3 mm m u Tis THU M gn P A. B. HALL. Transporting andDeliverin No. 222,1 8.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

1 A. E. HALL. Transporting and Delivering Dredged Material.

No. 222,488. Patented Dec. 9, 1879.

Wfiqesaes 1 L1 LIET'ItDF 5164/. M4)? gmmuqifi wim dwdwwbmw UNITED STATESPATENT .rrion ALBERT E. HALL, OF BOSTON, MASS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF OFHIS RIGHT TO COURTLANDT PALMER DIXON, OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSPORTING AND DELIVERING DREDGED MATERIAL.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 222,488, dated December9, 1579 application filed April 11, 1879.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT ELISHA HALL, ofBoston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts,haveinvented a new and useful improvement in apparatus for removing mudor gravel from the bed of shalin most cases involving the necessity ofhandling the mud or gravel twice, and sometimes oftener, and losing aportion of it at each handling.

Unloaded scows have been floated at high water to placeswhere the mudand gravel would be left uncovered atlow water, and then filled byshoveling, and again at high water floated to the place where it wasdesired to make the filling, or asnear itas the height of water wouldallow, and there dumping, and, if necessary, again shoveling andmovingit.

Scows have been filled with mud or gravel from the bed of shallow water,raised by a steam shovel or dredgeron a hull or float, and moved as nearthe shore as circumstances would allow and dumped, and the mud or gravelagain lifted and placed on shore on carts or cars, to be transportedWhere the fill was to be made; but this involves two or more *handlingsof the filling material.

A bridge on piles has been run out from the shore to the point where thesteam shovel or dredger would be located, and a rail-track laid on it,and dumping-cars run out on it to be filled, and then drawn where thefilling was to be deposited; but this method was sometimes impracticableat high or low tide, and involved a double handling, or a rebuilding ofthe bridge as soon as the available material within reach of the dredgeris removed.

' My method and apparatus obviate all these objections and enable me tolocate the dredger at any desirable station in a bay or arm of the sea,and remove it to any other station at pleasure, and then carry thedumpingfcars, adapted to the ordinary railway-track, to it to 'befilled, andwhen filled carry them to the landing-head, which is a partof my system, to be attached to a locomotive and drawn by it to theplace where the gravel or mud is to be deposited, and there dumped, andagain returned to the dredger to be refilled and lauded as before, thusenabling me to raise mud or gravel from the bed of any water where itcan be reached by the arm of the dredger' and carry it to any pointinland where I wish to deposit it, {and lay a track for a locomotive andcars to run on,) without rehandling it, or removing fixed bridges, andwithout regard to the height of the tide.

The invention consists in the combination and arrangement of a boat orscow of sufficient capacity to receive and carry any desirable number ofdumping-cars, and so decked over as not to be liable to be filled withwater and swamped, with a proper superstructure and track or tracks forthe cars to move and rest on above and resting on the deck a boat orscow properly constructed for the purpose, and covered in so that itwill not be liable to be filled with water, carrying a landing-bridgewith a railroad-track on it arranged to correspond with and meet thetrack on the boat or scow first mentioned at one end, and at the otherend with a railroad-track on the landing-head on or connected with theshore, all

constructed substantially as hereinafter described.

The landing-bridge is made in two equal,or nearly equal,- parts orlengths, hinged to and supported by a block or structure prepared forthe purpose at or near the middleofthe length of the boat or scow. Whenin position between the scow carrying the dumping-cars and thelanding-head on or approaching the shore, one end of this landing-bridgerests upon and is secured to the landing-head toward the shore, and theother end rests upon and is secured to the scow carrying thedumpingcars, the bridge only bearing upon the scow carrying it at themiddle on the block or superstructure before mentioned. At both ends ofthe bridgesupporting scow is an upright frame-work over the ends of thebridge, and supportinglevers on each side of the scow, the shorter endsof which levers are connected with the outer ends of the bridge, thelength of the le vers being parallel with the sides of the bridge, andthe inner ends of the levers are provided with balancing-weights, whichequal, or nearly equal, the weight of the outer ends of the bridge, towhich the outer ends of the levers are connected, so that a slight powerapplied to the inner ends of the levers will raise the outer ends of thebridge above and away from theirconnections with the landing-head andthe inner end of the car-carrying scow. In this detached state thebridge-carrying scow may (with or without the aid of a tug-boat) beremoved to any location desired, to be connected with anotherlanding-head or not, as the case may be; or in case of storm it may betowed to some location where it will be safe from injury. The inventionfurther embraces a landing head at or approaching the shore, restingupon piles or a wall or other suitable tixed support, with two or morerailroad-tracks arranged to correspond with and meet the track on thelanding-bridge, but at different heights above the water-level at lowtide, so that a locomotive from the shore may be run onto thelanding-bridge with safety from one track or the other at any stage ofthe tide, and, being connected with the train of dumping-cars on thecar-carrying scow, will take them 011 shore with ease, the upward gradefrom the carrying-scow over the landing-bridge never being high enoughto impede the progress of the locomotive with its loaded train ofdamping-cars toward the shore, or to render the running of the emptycars from the shore over the landing-bridge to the car-carrying scow inthe least hazardous.

The lower track on the landing head is placed so much above thewater-level at low tide that the upward grade from the car-carrying scowover the landing-bridge and landing-head will be about two degrees, thetop of the rail-track on the scow and bridge being three to four feetabove the water-line. The connection of the landing-bridge with thelower track on the landing-head will be maintained until the water-levelis halt-way between low and high tide, when the grade ofi' the bridge tothe landing will be downward about four degrees, the end of the scowcarrying the bridge toward thelandin g beingcut away enough to allow thescow to rise with the tide without comingin contact with the outer endof the bridge to lift it 01f from its connection with the lower track ofthe landing-head. When the tide is half-way between low and high thelandingbridge is detached from the lower track and moved sidewise to thepoint of connection with the upper track, and its landward end raised bymeans of the levers before mentioned to bring the rails on the bridge tomeet those on the landing-head, and the bridge is then secured to thelanding-head. This will produce an upward grade from the bridge of abouttwo degrees, which will be gradually diminished as the tide rises, andat high tide the grade off the bridge onto the landing-head will beagain downward about four degrees. The two tracks on the landing-headare run together and united at a distance landward sufiicient to make aneasy grade from the lower to the upper one.

In the accompanying drawings, in which the parts are indicated by thesame letter in the different figures, Figure I is a side view of thelanding-bridge and its supporting boat or scow, and a portion of thecar-carrying scow connected with the bridge, and a portion of thelanding-head, showing one of the tracks on it. Fig. II is an end view ofthe landingbridge and its supporting-scow. Fig. III is a diagram,showing the line of the top of the rail-track on the shoreward end ofthe landin g-bridge at the difi'erentstages of water--low tide,half-tide, and high tide-and the waterlevel at low and high tides. Fig.IV is an end view of the landing-head. Fig. Vis a side view of thelanding-head.

a is the floatsupporting the landing-bridge. b is the car-carrying scow.c-cis the landing bridge. dis the landing-head. e is the connection ofthe landing-bridge to the landinghead. f is the hinged joint connectingthe two parts of the landing-bridge. g is the supporting-block near themiddle of the seow, on which the landing-bridge rests. h h is the framesupporting the lever by which theouter ends of the landing-bridge areraised it, the levers and connections by which the outer ends of thelanding-bridge are raised and suspended whilethe scaw andbridgeareremo-ved from one location to another;. 0 0, the rail) track onthe landing-bridge. d. in the: diagram indicates high-water level. 0'indicates low-water level; agtop of .rail of high landing; 1), top ofrail of lowlanding; a, top of rail at middle of landing-bridge whenconnected with upper landingat half-tide; m,;top of rail at middle oflanding-bridge when connected with lower landing at low tide. c is alsotop of rail when. connected with lowlanding at halt-tide. 'nis top ofrail when con;- nected with high landing at high tide.

The diagram Fig.1 III shows thegrade .from the middle of thelanding-bridge to the landing-head at the difl'erent stages of the tide,

as before explained.

The landing-head and tracks from it being made ready for use in theusual way of .pre paring railway-tracks for use in similar situa tions,either upon piles or masonry, or both, or either, combined withearth-filling andprovided with meansof bringing up and scour ing the endof the landing-bridge to it, the landing-bridgeand its snpporting'scowcon structed upon well-known principles of bridgebuilding andboat-building, and adapted to each other in the manner herein described,with a railway-track upon the bridge and the car-carrying scow, with therailway-tracks above its deck to meet the track on the bridge, and itsproper means of connection with the landing-bridge, all substantiallyconstructed,

the bed of the bay or other water and filling up flats or lowlands maybe prosecuted much faster and cheaper than it has ever before been done.

The steam-dredger may be located and from time to time moved as thematerial within its reach is all taken up. A suitable tug-boat tows thecar-carrying scow with its train of dumping-cars on. board to thedredgcr, by which the dumpin gears are quickly filled. The tug-boat thenproceeds with the scow and cars to the landing-bridge, to which the scowis secured. The-locomotive is then backed down onto the landin g-bridgeattached to the dumping-cars, and steams away with them to the placewhere the filling is wanted, dumps the contents, and returns the carsagain on board of the scow, to be again towed to the dredge andrefilled, and so 011 until the work is completed.

It is obvious that two trains ofdumpingcarsmaybeused,thuskeepingthetug,dredger, and locomotive and thepersons attending them more fully employed.

The saving of cost of filling-low lands and flats near the water by themeans here described, and for the purpose specified.

2. A portable floating landing-bridge consistingof a supporting-floatand a bridge in two parts, hinged upon a supporting-block at the middleof the float, and the outer ends suspended from movable balanced levers,all constructed and arranged substantially as described, and for thepurpose specified.

ALBERT E. HALL.

Witnesses:

OH. HOUGHTON, FRED. L. HOUGHTON.

